Missing The Mark: McGwire Turns Down Meeting With Mitchell

Former MLBer Mark McGwire “has refused to meet with” MLB steroid investigator
George Mitchell, according to a source cited by Quinn & O’Keeffe of the N.Y. DAILY
NEWS. The source: “He wants nothing to do with their probe.” Quinn & O’Keeffe
noted that unlike in the federal case against Giants LF Barry Bonds, Mitchell
“can neither issue a subpoena that would compel McGwire to talk nor threaten [him]
with prison time.” Since his retirement after the ’01 season, McGwire has “rarely
been to a big-league park ... and he has declined repeated invitations from the
[Cardinals] to become a hitting instructor.” McGwire, at the March ’05 Congressional
steroid hearings, said he would “use whatever influence and popularity that I
have to discourage young athletes from taking any drug that is not recommended
by a doctor,” and he has donated money to the Taylor Hooton Foundation. Hooton
committed suicide at the age of 17 after taking steroids. Hooton’s father, Don,
said that Mark McGwire Foundation CFO Jim Milner “asked him not to announce the
donation,” which a source said was $15,000. Hooton said, “I encouraged them to
go public but they don’t want any credit or attention. They just want to help
the cause.” He added that his group has asked McGwire “to publicly speak out against
steroid use, but McGwire has refused” (N.Y.
DAILY NEWS, 8/5).